Photo: Denene Erasmus
Time has run out for smallholder and communal farmers to apply for relief funding from the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform (agriculture department).
The agriculture department invited applications from those small-scale farmers at risk, due to the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic lockdown restrictions currently in place in South Africa, through the COVID-19 Agricultural Disaster Support Fund for Smallholder and Communal Farmers.
Applications for smallholder farmers with an annual turnover of more than R20 000, but not exceeding R1 million per annum, and who met other relevant criteria, opened on 8 April and was set to close by 22 April.
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However, the National Emergent Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (NERPO) has called for this deadline to be extended to at least 30 April.
NERPO managing director, Aggrey Mahanjana, told Farmer’s Weekly that this was because too many farmers had not yet been able to submit applications due to movement and technology challenges.
“Imagine, [for example], just to make a photocopy they have to go into town and then the photocopy shop is closed because of the lockdown,” he said.
Commenting on the impact of the current lockdown restrictions on the red meat industry, Mahanjana confirmed estimates that as many as 40% of the country’s cattle herd was in the hands of smallholder farmers.
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He said these farmers were in dire straits heading into winter, as they were still trying to overcome pre-lockdown challenges such as the nationwide ban on auctions, due to the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, as well as the effects of the previous year’s drought.
Mahanjana said these farmers were also struggling to participate on the red meat market within the constraints of the current lockdown. Restrictions limited gatherings at auctions, and while many commercial producers had adapted by utilising online or digital marketing platforms, he said this was not an option for many small-scale farmers.
“On my farm [in the Eastern Cape], I do not even have [cell phone] reception to make a phone call,” he said, highlighting how a lack of connectivity was just one reason why many smallholder and communal farmers could not participate on such platforms.
He said this meant it was critically important that these farmers had sufficient opportunity to apply for any type of assistance on offer from the state.
Mahanjana said by mid-morning on Wednesday that no official response had been received to a letter sent by NERPO to government requesting that the deadline be extended. He had, however, been in conversation with top-level officials at the department.
While, it did not appear as if there would be an extension to the deadline, Mahanjana said that this would not be “the end of the line” for smallholder and communal farmers in terms of government assistance.
“Indications are that even if the deadline is not extended, there will be further opportunities to apply for assistance,” he said.
In response to a query from Farmer’s Weekly, Reggie Ngcobo, a government spokesperson, confirmed that, at the time of publication, there had been “no extension for the closing date”.
Ngcobo indicated that further information could become available following meetings being held during the course of the day.
